Aliens?
That’s a pretty big leap for a bunch of balloons. I know the X-Files was a popular show in its time, but still, aliens?
We seem to be in-season for unidentified flying objects over North American airspace and our military, along with our NORAD ally the United States, remains vigilant in watching our skies.
Three things have been shot down already in the carnage. It’s believed they’re all balloons of some sort.
After awhile it’s going to get pretty expensive shooting down latex balloons with AIM-9 sidewinder missiles. I don’t know how much your basic balloon costs these days, but the sidewinder can clock in at $381,000 a pop. If it’s China, the clever dogs, they’re trying to bankrupt us. I’m not sure why we’re not using the on-board 20 mm cannon that’s part of an F-22’s armament, although that, too, would be expensive. Hell, even a blowdart out the driver’s side window would take care of business, although at 800 miles/hour, it’s not as easy as it sounds.
The big question, of course, is who? Who do these things belong to? And what is their game?
Most of the FanDuel and BET99 action has it being China, although some say Russia, which would fit somewhat owing to the primitive technology and the cigarette burns.
Many, including myself, assign sinister motives to the balloons, such as intelligence gathering. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the trend-setting U.S. Congresswomen known for her cautious and staid approach to everything, goes so far as to suggest that these are vehicles that could be carrying nuclear weapons or even, gasp, COVID. I don’t know about strapping a nuke to a balloon purchased at China Tire, but as to COVID, we’ve already shown we can pass that around pretty good on our own without the need for a flying condom to do it for us.
But aliens?
I’m not saying there’s no such thing because I don’t know, although I have my suspicions. But why would any being, having the technology to travel space and time just to get to us, suddenly select a balloon for a closer look? It just doesn’t make sense. It’s not like they got here driving an intergalactic wheelbarrow, why would they resort to this? Sorry, but I just don’t see it.
Anyone thinking these things are of Russian origin might want to ask themselves some hard questions like, how did it (the balloon) get over here without catching fire? Is there some Russian guy over in a trailer in Siberia with a joystick, surrounded by cigarette butts and empty vodka bottles, piloting these things around the airstreams?
I do know this. Once is thing. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is an even bigger coincidence. And four times? Well, that’s a thing again.
At this point, it remains a mystery.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 